Lead Fabric Data Engineer at Robert Walters, Manchester, 6 to 12 Months, £550-£650 per day

Lead Fabric Data Engineer
Outside IR35
Location: Cheshire (Hybrid - 2 days per week on-site)
Duration: 7-8 months

Lead Fabric Data Engineer contract required to accelerate the migration of priority on-premises SQL Server data workloads into Microsoft Fabric, establish a secure and well-governed platform, and build reusable foundations for reporting, analytics, and commercial data

Our client requires an experienced, hands-on Lead Fabric Data Engineer/Architect contractor to work alongside their Central Data Team and external delivery partners. This role is strictly deliverable-focused, combining migration, engineering, governance, and knowledge transfer. The successful contractor will replace Legacy patterns with scalable Fabric and dbt-based solutions, rather than simply performing a "lift and shift" of existing processes

Scope of Work & Key Deliverables

• Workload Assessment: Evaluate databases, stored procedures, SSIS/ETL processes, file feeds, reports, and dependencies within the priority on-premises SQL Server estate.
• Migration Planning: Create a sequenced migration backlog, source-to-target mappings, validation approaches, and a clear cutover plan.
• Ingestion Patterns: Build secure, reusable ingestion patterns from on-premises SQL Server and other agreed sources into Microsoft Fabric.
• Medallion Architecture: Establish governed Bronze, Silver, and Gold data layers in OneLake using Delta tables and agreed engineering standards.
• Data Transformation: Utilize dbt Core to create modular transformation models, tests, documentation, and lineage, fully integrated into the deployment process.
• Governance & Operations: Implement access controls, data quality rules, reconciliation, monitoring, alerting, and operational support procedures.
• Analytics Delivery: Create trusted Gold datasets and semantic models for Power BI and agreed commercial use cases.
• Upskilling & Handover: Mentor the internal team through peer-to-peer coding, code reviews, and shared learning. Deliver technical documentation, runbooks, and walkthroughs to enable independent delivery and support post-contract

Essential Contractor Experience

• Microsoft Fabric Ecosystem: Production experience with Microsoft Fabric, OneLake, Lakehouse/Warehouse, Fabric Data Factory, pipelines, and notebooks.
• dbt Core Expertise: Strong, hands-on dbt Core experience, including modular models, testing, documentation, lineage, and CI/CD deployment.
• SQL Server Migration: Proven track record migrating from on-premises MS SQL Server to Fabric or Azure, including Legacy stored procedures, SSIS/ETL, reporting dependencies, and phased cutovers.
• Data Engineering Fundamentals: Advanced SQL and strong Python/PySpark capability, with practical experience implementing Delta and medallion architectures.
• Data Reconciliation: Experience validating and reconciling migrated data and business logic against Legacy SQL Server outputs before formal cutover.
• Power BI & Semantic Modelling: Hands-on experience with Power BI, semantic modelling, and Direct Lake connectivity.
• Security & Governance: Practical knowledge of Entra ID, RBAC, Microsoft Purview, data quality framework, data lineage, and sensitive-data controls.
• DevOps Practices: Solid experience with GitHub, automated testing, and CI/CD deployment pipelines across Dev, Test, and Prod environments.

If interested in this Lead Fabric Data Engineer contract role - please forward latest CV clearly showing suitability and location due to travel to client site in Manchester

Robert Walters Operations Limited is an employment business and employment agency and welcomes applications from all candidates